Police find $108,000 in budget savings

Peterborough This Week

(PETERBOROUGH) The police service is behind in hiring because of the City of Peterborough’s delay in approving the 2012 budget.
Yet while the police force is saving money, $108,960 so far, it comes at a cost.
The police services board met briefly for a special meeting Wednesday afternoon (Feb. 22) to adjust the budget for the savings.
Mayor Daryl Bennett, a member of the board, made it clear they were only approving the change, not reapproving the budget.
Council asked the police board to get its budget within the traditional level of less than 10 per cent of the City’s overall budget, a cut of more than $2 million. The board rejected the request.
Chief Murray Rodd planned to hire three new officers and two civilians in January, but that’s on hold.
It’s not simply a delay in hiring.
To be able to hire these people, he says the positions had to be advertised and the potential employees go through an extensive background search and screening process.
“We spend sometimes three months on a background check,” he says.
That process will have to be repeated and the positions reposted when the budget is approved.
Complicating things further, all police officers are sent to a training school in Aylmer, Ontario, after they are hired. Space at the school must be reserved and new classes are only accepted three times a year.
The City used to wait until later in spring to approve the budget and Chief Rodd says there’s nothing wrong with that. The problem is when your plans revolve around a December approval since that’s how the City’s budget cycle is now laid out.
If the City waits until the July 1 deadline to approve the police budget, he says it will be tough to get those officers to Aylmer for September, which could put the new hires off until January 2013.
Even then, he says it takes about two years to get a new officer working substantially independently.
For hiring civilians, he says they have to wait for the budget and then will look at when it will be best to hire new people based on holidays and maternity leaves.
In the mean time, he says overtime costs are up about $16,000 over this time last year.
The police services board met briefly for a special meeting Wednesday afternoon to adjust the budget for the $108,960.